Bus drivers attack lane 'nightmare'

New Symonds St signs are being used in a month-long test to assess the effectiveness of clearer distance markings. Photo / Steven McNicholl

Bus drivers have joined criticism of Auckland City's tough bus-lane enforcement regime, saying it is forcing motorists to cut them off with sudden left turns at intersections.

Auckland Tramways Union president Gary Froggatt said yesterday that Symonds St in particular had become a nightmare for bus drivers trying to cope with vehicles cutting across their bows at the last moment from general traffic lanes.

"It's dangerous and it's causing problems for our drivers," he said.

He believed motorists intending to turn left should be allowed to get behind buses, even if that saw them staying in bus lanes for more than a maximum allowance of 50m stipulated by Government transport regulations.

"What we would prefer to happen is the cars travelling up behind the bus.

"Even if they travel more than 50m it doesn't matter - it's not important as long as they're not obstructing the passage of the bus."

Mr Froggatt's concern about buses being cut off at intersections was acknowledged last night by the city council's transport committee chairman, Ken Baguley, who said the regulations clearly needed changing.

"It's frustrating because the staff are doing what they are required to do by NZTA [the Government's Transport Agency]," he said.

"We are going to have to campaign to NZTA to make it more achievable for people to work with the rules because it's a nightmare at the moment."

Mr Baguley said he would expect a staff report to his committee next month on the bus lanes to include recommendations on what regulation changes to seek from the Government.

"If bus drivers are now saying people are cutting in front of them, that's another issue that will get covered."

Despite Mr Baguley's citation of the regulations, Transport Minister Steven Joyce has called for some leniency from the council and the Ministry of Transport says local road controlling authorities already have "discretion" in enforcing them.

Auckland University law professor Kenneth Palmer also last week urged the council to accept a general defence applying to offences under the Local Government Act, from any motorist who used a bus lane at peak times after judging it too dangerous to start turning left at the last moment.

Mr Froggatt said bus drivers were constantly telling him of close shaves with left-turning cars.

He did not know of any collisions in those circumstances, although he was aware of three or four crashes in the past year involving vehicles turning right in front of buses using bus lanes.

Symonds St has had 24-hour bus lanes operating since late last year as key components of the Central Connector bus corridor which Auckland City Council developed between Britomart and Newmarket for $43 million.

The council says about 250 northbound buses carrying about 6000 passengers use the Symonds St lanes between 7am and 9am each day.

But it has provoked public fury by issuing almost $6.2 million in infringement notices to motorists caught driving on its 36km network of bus lanes in the past year.

A Herald reporter complying with the bus-lane regulations found himself having to nose across the front of a bus to turn left from Symonds St into Grafton Rd yesterday without holding up cars behind him in a general vehicle lane.

He had passed a large new red sign installed by the city council to mark the start of the 50m turning zone, behind which a parking warden was videoing traffic. It is one of several signs being used in a month-long council trial to assess whether drivers will become more compliant when shown clearly how much distance is available for left turns.

Another sign, on the opposite side of Symonds St just south of Mount St, warned drivers that "bus lane camera operates" but there was no camera that could be seen when the Herald investigated the site at noon yesterday.

* Auckland City has waived repeat fines for a woman caught driving in a bus lane, after she accused it of breaking an undertaking to reconsider her case.

Young mother Philippa Oemcke, who was videoed driving in the Quay St bus lane on three consecutive days in April, said yesterday that she had received a letter from the city council cancelling court demands for $360 in fines and costs.

She complained to the Herald last week about receiving the demands despite a council offer in June to consider letting her off two infringement notices as long as she paid a $150 fine for one of her three offences.

Mrs Oemcke, who paid that fine, said she would not have reoffended had she known of the bus-lane crackdown.

Bussing it

* Distance of Auckland's bus lane network - 36km.

* Fine for driving in a bus lane - $150.

Operating hours:

* Vary from 24 hours a day in Symonds St, Park Rd and Fanshawe St to two-hour peak periods on suburban commuter feeder routes.

* Bus lanes on routes such as Dominion Rd and Mt Eden Rd operate from 7am to 9am and 4pm to 6pm on week days.

* Some others, such as on Albert St, operate from 6am to 10am and from 3pm to 7pm.